Direct sunlight

This morning its a very sunny day and my fish room is illuminated by two big windows, that'll have controll with blinds. But as of now my system is still dry and the sun is shinning on my sculptures that i've done for my tanks. And as it shines on them on a different angle than the lights that i'll be using to light up my tank, i'm asking myself about sunlight itself, beyond the obvious answers of algae blooms and other problems that direct sunlight can cause on aquarium tanks, is their any benefits of direct sunlight on a system at all . In any situation their's pros and cons; their's must be some in this case as well any thoughts on this. As humans we get vitamin C from are skins do the corals of fish get anything from it. Thanks for your input, very curious about this.

 

Sunlight will probably have more red/yellow light than typical aquarium light. There isn't really anything special about this, other than it is a spectrum that isn't really natural to moderate to deep reefs. Most people though do not find any difference, some think it magically causes algae and others think there may be some benefit to shallower water corals. There isn't much real info, that isn't purely anecdotal.

It is likely some algae may be able to better utilize it, but still algae needs nutrients, so, not necessarily a problem with good maintenance and usually not a problem IMO.

Our eyes are more sensitive to yellow light though, so it can give the illusion of washed out coral colors, as the yellow will be better perceived than the blue-green-red fluorescence of the corals.

Benefits though are a bit tougher to justify by any known phenomena although certainly many try to make an argument that natural sunlight provides spectrums that are better. Perhaps some corals may have some benefit, but for the most part corals seem pretty adaptable to various kiting conditions, from what I have seen long term, I don't think it matters much. Maybe it could depend on the primary lighting some, if it is really really pure blue, then some shallow water corals and clams may have more trouble adapting, so perhaps some wider spectrum could help, but then again switching to different bulbs could do the same and without the extra red (which is pretty much agreed isn't helpful and too much may be bad).


Nice structure too btw.

 

Hmmm interesting. I may begin an experiment then, with real sunlight and see where it goes. Thanks. If you want to see how i made it click the link in my signature i'll take you there.

 

Algae issues. Get a good scraper.